David Paterson on the demise of David Paterson

Gov. David Paterson was particularly reflective this morning on WAMC’s Roundtable, chalking up his abortive electoral bid to nasty rumors that he would resign; which he once again suggested were orchestrated by some un-named force.

“I didn’t run because I had to clear up a number of allegations that I think now, with the distinctive advantage of hindsight, what person in public service has ever had to face two and a half weeks of published reports speculating on rumors which all turned out to be lies, innuendo and inaccuracies,” Paterson said. “When they couldn’t find anything on me, they found things on other people and tried to connect me to them, which, you know, further investigation has proven not true. And not once have the rumor mongers, or whoever decided to print these un-sourced, at times, allegations ever indicated any responsibility for what they did.”

“After that apparent decision in the White House, it seemed to be just the time, when it’s like you’re the new kid in school: everybody talks about you, picks on you and I felt my willingness and ability to endure surprised me,” Paterson said.

But his poll numbers started to go up. “That’s when all the rumors started, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence,” Paterson said on WAMC.

So, who pushed the buttons?

“I think there were too many suspects for me to speculate, and the reason was because my executive decisions were alienating all special interests, all unions, a lot of causes I had supported in the past, so I couldn’t begin to think about who was responsible for it,” he said.

Then the governor, with the benefit of hindsight, outlined what he wishes he had done. He was watching the Super Bowl when somebody called three media outlets with a (false) report that Paterson would resign in the morning in a “Spitzer-like fashion.”

“Here’s where I made my mistake. My gut feeling told me, if they’re going to whip up this resignation in the middle of the Super Bowl, to this level, I should go along with it,” Paterson said. “Just stay quiet, schedule a press conference for the next morning, let the entire national media come there, get up and say this…this is what I wish I had said: ‘If you came here to cover a resignation, you’ve reached the wrong office. But since you’re here, I wouldn’t want you to waste the trip. I’d just like to announce I’m running for re-election and that’s the end of this press conference. You can blame yourselves for listening to un-sourced rumors and allegations that are designed to hurt me rather than getting the truth which is, at least, what you say you do. I think if I had said that, I would have done better. But this idea of trying to run around and put out fires all over the place, it clearly doesn’t work.”